


soft shock

by astonishman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-01-19 04:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1455586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astonishman/pseuds/astonishman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After losing his Jaegar co-pilot Scott in an electrical malfunction, Stiles is paired with rookie pilot Cora because she's the only one who is drift compatible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. we're on fire

**Author's Note:**

> This is primarily a Cora/Stiles fic, but there is some Scott/Stiles interaction. Told from Cora's point of view, but it's still third person.

It was Cora’s first drift. It was a trial run as well. Just to see if she could handle it and if she could handle having someone else running through her memories. Not just anyone though – Stiles. He would sift through her mind and she would experience his. She knew him, but not well. They’ve only known each for a few months during training, but they were paired and deemed compatible. Since then, she’s gotten to know him a little, but she’s not big on sharing, and… well… he wasn’t either anymore. Not after what happened to Scott.

He’d been a pilot for a few months before it happened and they sent him back to the academy because he was too good of a pilot to dismiss, but they weren’t sure if he was dangerous. His mind was unstable from the accident. Cora was happy to be paired with him though – she liked him more than she thought she would. He made her feel safe.

She had tested impeccably and she kept being told that nothing will go wrong, but you can’t predict that first time. Cora wasn’t worried about her mind though. There were certainly embarrassing moments in her life, but that’s nothing. That’s just part of the drift. She wasn’t even worried about the intimacy that comes with having someone know all your private thoughts. She was worried about what was going in Stiles mind. Everyone talks about him like he used to be so happy. She didn’t know what that would mean for her; for them.

She was suited up and waiting very early; long before the test was scheduled to begin. She was anxious to have it done with. She didn't get much sleep. She wonders if he did. He always looks tired, so it's hard to tell.

“Don’t look so horrified,” he said as he walked in smiling, “I’m in my head all the time and it’s very pleasant. I guarantee it.” But his smile dissolved into a determined grimace as he strapped himself in. She didn't say anything; too nervous.

"Alright, let's do this," he continued sliding his visor down. The countdown began and Cora's heart jumped in her chest as she waited for her world to crash into his.

The drift was brutal - way worse than she was expecting. Everything slid out of focus and she was disoriented and then it hit her - the stream of consciousness. At first, it was all jumbled and messy, and then she was seeing his childhood memories. She was there; she could feel the happiness and the sadness. She could feel his mind in hers doing the same.

She found a dark spot in his memories and when she looked, everything went black and she felt like her whole body was being torn apart. She knew she could hear Stiles beside her screaming her name, but she wasn't listening. The memory had engulfed her senses completely. She was in a Jaegar again, a different one, she looked over to her right and she saw Scott beaming back at her with a stupid grin and she felt her heart warm - Stiles' heart - she was Stiles. This was his memory. They were trialling a new Jaegar - one that utilised electric shocks to stun the kaiju. _Electric Boogaloo._ They let Stiles name it stupidly since it was his idea.

"You ready for this?" Scott asked.

"I was born ready," Stiles replied.

"That's probably the dorkiest thing you've ever said," he said.

"We're in a giant robot fighting alien monsters, okay, let me have this," Stiles pleaded.

"I swear you say that every time we get in one of these," Scott teased.

"Let's just do this," Stiles replied, suddenly serious.

The Jaegar powered up and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up - something wasn't right. A jolt ran through the memory and the drift into her - sharp pain, bright light in her eyes. Stiles' suit disconnected him from his drift with Scott and he saw that Scott was convulsing on the floor. She could hear the sirens, and people yelling, and heard the Jaegar power down automatically to protect the pilots, but the damage was done. The rogue electricity had backfired through the neural network and Scott had used the split second he had to disengage Stiles from the network, taking the entire neural load himself just as the jolt hit them.

"Scott," Stiles was screaming at him, "Scott, stay with me." He ran over to hold him, but he wasn't convulsing anymore; he wasn't moving at all. People were coming from all sides to help, but Stiles wouldn't let him go, they had to restrain him.

Cora felt the memory slip away and she was in the drift again, suddenly back in her Jaegar with her Stiles. She was on the ground, overwhelmed, and Stiles was cradling her like he was holding Scott in the memory.

"Is it like this every time?" Cora asked him softly.

"Every time," Stiles said solemnly.

"How do you do it?" Cora asked again.

"You don't chase it. You let it go," he said.

"I felt what you are feeling though, Stiles. I know what you lost. I know how it haunts you - what he did for you. How can you just let that go?" she replied.

"You may have felt it, but you get to walk away from it when you leave the drift. It is a part of me, I can let it go in the drift because I know that it will always come back," he said.

He stands up and offers Cora a hand to help her up.

"You know, I think that went well for a practice run," he said to the supervisors listening, "let's run it again tomorrow."

"You still want to drift with me?" Cora asked.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy," Stiles remarked.

She hugged him unexpectedly on impulse, but he didn't pull away.

"I think we can do this," she whispered against his shoulder - more to herself than to him.

 


	2. bravado

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the drift, neither Stiles nor Cora can sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Background ships: Scott/Allison, implied Derek/Allison

Cora was lying in her bunk unable to sleep after the fiasco of the trial run today. She had been so focused in the last couple of months on training and watching Stiles to make sure he was dealing with everything, she forgot that Scott’s death affected so many other people around her. 

She didn’t know Scott, but her brother did. Derek was Scott’s mentor – he was more of an older brother to Scott than he was to her, but that wasn’t his fault. He’s a great pilot and he believes in his duty – other people need him more than her, she gets that. She would never admit it to him, but he inspired her on the same path, to be closer to him, to help people like he does, to be a hero.

Then there was Allison. Derek’s co-pilot, Scott’s girlfriend – Derek says she hasn’t been able to drift since the accident, that they’ve been working on dealing with it together. Cora knows that Derek has always had feelings for Allison, maybe they are making the best of what they have left, she wouldn’t hold it against them – she thinks that just how some people grieve. 

All of this was swirling around in her head as she lay there too exhausted to sleep. She thought about Stiles and how he held everything together today. He was the one picking her up off the floor – the opposite of what she had expected. She felt like he was constantly surprising her, maybe she underestimated him too much.

She heard a soft knock at her door. She checked her watch [3:31am] and she knew it was Stiles. She’d heard him some other nights get up and wander the halls at around the same time. She thought he might be sleepwalking those times, but now she knows, now that she’s been in his head, she knows he has nightmares. Nightmares that are so bad he sets an alarm to get him up before they hit. Surprisingly, to Cora, they aren’t all about Scott. Some of them are about the kaiju that hit Stiles home town – he wasn’t even there, but the Jaegar that did get there was too late to save half the city including Stiles’ family. In his nightmares, Stiles imagines himself in the Jaegar, being the one who couldn’t save them, even though he wasn’t there. When Cora touches the memory, the guilt of it saturates her. 

Cora got up out of bed to answer Stiles’ knock, she was wearing one of Derek’s old shirts – way too big for her, but it smelt like home, like family. She didn’t bother changing for Stiles’ benefit, it didn’t seem necessary, not after the drift anyway. She opened the door, and Stiles was standing on the other side in normal clothes. She smiled thinking that he probably went to the extra effort just for her. She wondered why that mattered to her all of a sudden.

“Hey,” he said softly after a few seconds of silence.

“Hey yourself, hot shot,” she said unable to resist the urge to break the tension.

“Wasn’t sure if you were awake, so I knocked softly, I didn’t want to wake you,” he said as she stepped aside to let him in.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep,” she replied, gesturing for him to sit on the bed. He sat down nervously fidgeting. 

“Me either. Obviously,” he said.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked even though she knew the answer. She sat next to him.

“Just, you know, the usual,” he said, “I guess you probably do know actually.”

“Yeah, I know, Stiles,” she replied softly, “did you want to talk about it?”

“Nah, not really, I guess I just wanted to see you,” he said. She raised her eyebrows at him without saying anything.

“What? You ‘ve seen what’s going on in my head, I don’t have any secrets,” he continued.

“Nothing, never mind,” she smiled to herself thinking about how she felt when she saw he had actually put on proper clothes to see her just moments before.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” he said.

“Maybe you were just missing me,” she said, laughing, expecting him to say something about how that’s not what he meant, but he didn’t. He didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Maybe,” he finally broke the silence, “maybe I am. It’s different after the drift.”

“Our minds became one; I think it’s only natural to miss that feeling. Being apart, it feels like I’m missing a limb that I didn’t even know I had,” she said.

“Only natural… Yeah…” he trailed off. Stiles was usually more talkative, but he wasn’t saying much, and Cora, normally quiet herself, had to resist a strong urge to fill the silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but Cora felt like there was too much being left unsaid. He was still fidgeting and she grabbed his hands in hers and held them still.

“I feel like I should go, try to get some rest,” he said after a while.

“Stay,” she replied immediately then hastily added, “maybe being around someone will help you sleep.”

“That sounds good,” he said, but he was already tucking himself in to the bed as if he knew she would ask him to stay.

“You’re not going to sleep in those clothes, are you?” she asked playfully.

“Yeah?” he said, “what’s the problem?”

“No problem. There’s no problem at all,” she got in beside him. The bed was made for one person, so she snuggled into him so they could fit. After a long time, Cora had thought he might have fallen asleep, but he whispered something to her, and she had to ask him to repeat it.

“Is Derek okay? You know, about Scott,” he said still whispering as if it was a conversation that couldn’t be overheard.

“Sure, he’s dealing in the best way he knows how,” Cora said, “which means he isn’t dealing at all.”

“Are you okay?” he asked her. 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she replied, “I’m okay.”

“Thanks for letting me stay, my room still feels empty without him,” he said with a sharp intake of breath.

“Anytime, hot shot,” she said grabbing his arm and wrapping it around her, intertwining her fingers with his, and holding it to her chest.

“I think we can do this too,” he said – more to himself than to her.


	3. say something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Cora have to take some time off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pfft. I don't know where this is going, this might not ever be finished. I am really sorry, I apologise to everyone.

The next few months went easily for Cora. She found her drift rhythm with Stiles and there were only minor hiccups, but nothing like the first time. 

Derek had come by to visit a few times; he said he wanted to see Cora’s skills as a pilot, and he wanted to spend more time with her. Cora knew that he and Allison hadn’t drifted since Scott died and she didn’t think Allison would ever be able to again. Derek had grieved and moved on, but Allison had not. Cora could tell that Derek was coming to visit her because things were too intense back home, and he needed a break. She wondered if one day he would visit and never leave. 

Cora and Stiles were on leave now - they had completed a set amount of successful missions and were benched temporarily to prevent stress or tension build-up – she wasn’t really listening when they explained it, but she knew it had something to do with the neural load. It meant that they had weeks ahead of them with nothing to do but relax. When they were initially told this, they both looked at each other blankly. Neither of them had any other interests. 

The first few days were confusing; they wandered around the hanger watching other pilots fly off for missions wishing they were going with them. After that, they started hanging out together in the rec room. Neither of them had ever really stopped by there before. It was a place for the pilots to unwind, relax and socialise. Stiles and Cora kept to themselves mostly. The room was small comparatively to the rest of the facilities, but large enough for a small crowd of people comfortably. Most of the furniture and appliances in the room were broken or second-hand now. The funds for the Jaeger program had started drying up and were being diverted to essential services first.

Cora scanned the room. There were a couple of couches in the corner with pilots lounging on them and arguing boisterously about something unimportant. Mounted on the otherwise-plain walls was a television broadcasting the news 24/7. There was a pool table although Cora saw that half the felt was ripped off and probably half the balls were missing. She could only see one cue as well. There was half a kitchen set up as well. She looked over at Stiles as they walked in and he looked almost happy.

“Well, I guess this is where we spend our last ten days of leave,” she said.

“You don’t have to sound so lifeless, how about some enthusiasm? They have a pool table!” he said.

“Do you play?” she asked.

“Well… No, but we could learn, I mean, we have like a week,” he said.

“I don’t need to learn,” she said.

“What?” he said.

“I used to play with Derek before he left for pilot training,” she said.

“This is great! You can teach me,” he said.

“You really think that’s a good idea?” she said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Any time I try to give you instructions, I always end up wanting to punch you,” she said.

“It’s not my fault you give awful instructions,” he said.

“See? I’m feeling that violent desire right now,” she said.

Stiles groaned audibly and Cora looked over at him. He was attempting to look really upset, but the expression was not sitting believably on his face.

“Don’t pout,” she said. Cora couldn’t help but turn away and smile at his playfulness. She had noticed that he was unusually cheerful lately. He didn’t even let being benched bring down his spirits for too long it seemed. Cora sighed in resignation.

“I’ll teach you; just stop making that dumb face,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he saluted her. She shot him a venomous look.

“Don’t test your luck,” she said. They approached the table and Stiles picked up the cue awkwardly. 

“Give it to me,” she said, “alright, you have to hold it like this.” Cora leaned in to the table to take a shot. She handed the cue to Stiles who, then, tried to mimic her position and failed. 

“You’re doing it wrong, idiot, hold it like I did,” she said.

“Are you going to punch me?” he said. She leant over him and re-positioned his hands.

“You’re safe for now. Just stop everything you are doing because it’s all wrong,” she said as he turned to face her. 

“It’s all wrong, really?” he said. Cora looked at him and he was still staring at her.

“Maybe look at what you’re doing, idiot,” she said.

“Nah, I got this, let me try it,” he said.

She stepped back and Stiles took the shot. It was perfect. It was a better shot than she’d ever done certainly, maybe even better than Derek - using a rebound to knock a second ball in.

“Wow,” she said.

“Yeah, lucky shot,” he said smiling. Cora started shaking her hand at him.

“Well, maybe I’m a natural or a quick learner,” he continued.

“Oh, fuck off. You already knew how to play,” she said. 

“You caught me,” he said placing his hands in front of him as if waiting to be handcuffed.


End file.
